U.G. Krishnamurti: Doing

“It is very difficult to understand that all that you are doing is the impediment, is the one thing that is disturbing the harmony, the peace that is already there.”

U.G. Krishnamurti

Part I: You Don't Have To Do A Thing
The Courage to Stand Alone (2001)
Context: Whatever pursuit you are indulging in, somewhere along the line it has to dawn on you that it is not leading you anywhere. As long as you want something, you will do that. That want has to be very, very clear. What do you want? All the time I ask you the question, "What do you want?" You say, "I want to be at peace with myself." That is an impossible goal for you because everything you are doing to be at peace with yourself is what is destroying the peace that is already there. You have set in motion the movement of thought which is destroying the peace that is there, you see. It is very difficult to understand that all that you are doing is the impediment, is the one thing that is disturbing the harmony, the peace that is already there.

Peace , Understanding

“You know the story of 'Alice in Wonderland'. The red queen has to run faster and faster to keep still where she is. That is exactly what you are all doing. running faster and faster. But you are not moving anywhere.”

U.G. Krishnamurti

Part III: Nice Meeting You, and Goodbye
The Courage to Stand Alone (2001)

“To be an individual and to be yourself you don't have to do a thing. Culture demands that you should be something other than what you are. What a tremendous amount of energy — the will, the effort — we waste trying to become that! If that energy is released, what is it that we can't do? How simple it would be for every one of us to live in this world!”

U.G. Krishnamurti

Source: Thought is Your Enemy (1990), Chapter III: The Robot Is Dreaming

World , Effort

“You can have the courage to climb the mountain, swim the lakes, go on a raft to the other side of the Atlantic or Pacific. That any fool can do, but the courage to be on your own, to stand on your two solid feet, is something which cannot be given by somebody.”

U.G. Krishnamurti

Part III: Nice Meeting You, and Goodbye
The Courage to Stand Alone (2001)
Context: You can have the courage to climb the mountain, swim the lakes, go on a raft to the other side of the Atlantic or Pacific. That any fool can do, but the courage to be on your own, to stand on your two solid feet, is something which cannot be given by somebody. You cannot free yourself of that burden by trying to develop that courage. If you are freed from the entire burden of the entire past of mankind, then what is left there is the courage.

Fools , Mountain , Courage

“My teaching, if that is the word you want to use, has no copyright. You are free to reproduce, distribute, interpret, misinterpret, distort, garble, do what you like, even claim authorship, without my consent or the permission of anybody.”

U.G. Krishnamurti

Copyright release found in this and several other publications of his conversations (note: copyright restrictions apply)
The Mystique of Enlightenment (1982)

“I am not anti-rational, just unrational. You may infer a rational meaning in what I say or do, but it is your doing, not mine.”

U.G. Krishnamurti

Source: No Way Out (2002), Ch. 1: The Unrational Philosophy of U.G. Krishnamurti

“You think when you don't want to do anything. Thinking is a poor alternative to acting. Your thinking is consuming all your energy. Act, don't think!”

U.G. Krishnamurti

As quoted in A Taste of Death: Thirty Days with U.G. in Gstaad, Switzerland http://www.scribd.com/doc/3101240/A-Taste-of-Death (1995) by Mahesh Bhatt. Bhatt precedes this quote with the observation "You are what you do, not what you say you want to do" which has sometimes been misquoted as part of Krishnamurti's statement.

Thinking